Stuffed Animal
by kazzymetron
Summary: Based off a promt I got on tumblr. Taz and Up are in Mexico for Valentine's Day. The characters of Taz and Up belong to Team StarKid.


_When Taz was a little girl, she had loads of stuffed animals. Not because she liked them, the only reason she collected them was because her many relatives liked to spoil her with them and she felt she had to act grateful and polite. It quickly became a tradition in their family: a stuffed animal meant an important point in Taz's life. Each one had different meanings; there was a whole stash of ones she had been given when she was born, some from birthdays, some from Christmases and an assortment of odd ones, all symbolising different events. All from her family. Her family who had been dead for years._

_Taz's collection of stuffed animals had been obliterated with the rest of her family. Now, the mere thought of them gave her pain, so she filed all thoughts of them them away with every other memory of her family and didn't allow herself to think about them. The only time she allowed those painful memories off the shelf was when she visited "home". _

This coming week, the G.L.E.E had given Starship team AA4 a week's worth of leave time. Taz and Up had decided that this week would be one of the few times they would revisit the few places that were near and dear to them. These visits weren't very frequent, they were just enough to keep their childhood memories and heritage clear. When they were told about their leave, Taz decided she wanted to visit Mexico for a week and Up had no objections. He guessed that the coming Valentine's Day held some nostalgia for his little Mexican girl. The couple had never cared about Valentine 's Day: it wasn't something either party bought into.

So, that week, they went back to Taz's homeland, back to stay in the remains of her village. There was nothing left, there never would be anything there again, but it was where Taz and Up chose to reside when they visited. They didn't care about how little there was: they had each other and a camping kit, they'd survived a lot on less many times before. It would feel wrong to do anything else.

It wasn't until Valentine's Day itself that Taz decided to go back to the site of her old house. Neither had mentioned what day it was: Up hadn't felt it was appropriate and, since Taz hadn't mentioned it, he assumed she didn't care or know. When Up awoke alone in their little tent that morning, he wasn't alarmed. He knew Taz well enough to know where she'd be. Up deliberately took his time getting ready for the day ahead, bathing in the lukewarm water of a nearby river and dressing in his off duty clothes, before setting of on the five minute walk to the ruins of Taz's old house. The robots had done a good job of destroying the setting of Taz's childhood, but heaps of rubble still remained, each heap signalling a house that once made up the small, well-populated village.

Up arrived at the remains be to see Taz sitting in the rubble, still as a statue. Up knew this body language. He knew it meant danger, that Taz was upset, so upset that she withdrew into herself, something that could only end in more pain. In that moment she looked so much like a little girl that his protective instincts kicked in and he couldn't help but make his way over, sit down next to her and envelop her into his arms. They sat like that for a long time. After about half an hour, Up felt Taz's stiff back melt so that she was leaning into him, letting herself be supported and comforted. Another half an hour passed and Taz had allowed Up's arms move down to her waist. After an hour of sitting like this, Taz completely relaxed into him, and Up thought it might be safe to start talking.

"So, where are we?" he asked, casually trying to make conversation, hoping he could draw some pain out of Taz in the most painless way possible. At the sound of his voice, Taz looked around at her surroundings, seeming to take them in for the first time. After a brief pause, Taz softly whispered, "The kitchen, my bedroom was up there," her voice cracked on the last word and she buried her face in Up's shoulder.

This was all the information Up needed. It was just enough for him to understand. The kitchen would have been the heart of the house; the place where family gatherings if all kinds would have been held. Her bedroom, the most personal place in the house was above it, meaning that this spot held double the memories of anywhere else. This section of the house would have been the centre of Taz's childhood world, the source of all her happiness. The happiness that had disappeared after the robots attacked.

Suddenly, Up spotted something. He'd been looking round, taking in his surroundings: a natural act for a trained Starship Ranger. The bright pink caught his eye amongst the yellow bricks. It looked so out of place, yet it must have been there for years: he knew for a fact that he and Taz were the only ones who ever came here now.

Slowly, he reached over and plucked a tiny, bright pink teddy bear out from the rubble around them. He examined it for a minute, wondering how it got there, why it was there and what it meant. Slowly, unsure of exactly what he was doing or why he was doing it, Up placed the little animal onto Taz's lap. Cautiously, he watched her face as she took in the present. Her eyes widened, first with confusion, then with recognition, then with shock. Finally, they welled up with tears and she managed to choke out "Wh-where?"

"I thought it might be time to give you a Valentine's gift?" Up said, pitifully trying to make a joke, but this was only met with a tearful, yet terrifying death glare. "Alright, alright," Up surrendered, "I spotted it under some rubble, don't know why, it just seemed like something you might want?" Taz's face became unreadable. Up simply met her gaze, trying to figure her out and reassure her at the same time.

Eventually, Taz smiled weakly and Up knew he had done the right thing. They sat together for a while, just holding each other until Taz decided she it was time to talk. She started with the story of how she got the little pink bear, how it was a present from her abuela when she was born. It what had started her family's tradition of giving her stuffed animals. It was the most special gift, the one that had survived the longest, and the one that Taz would now treasure forever. After this story, Taz told Up countless stories from her childhood, each stemming from one of the toys that were once in her collection of stuffed animals. Each of them held a story in it, and they sat there, talking until nightfall. Up learnt so much about the woman he was in love with, seeing Taz finally let these memories run free was a gift in itself. Finally, Taz was shivering so much that Up picked her up and carried her back to their camp. He tucked her in and watched as she fell into the most peaceful sleep Up had ever seen. It had been the perfect way to spend Valentine's Day.


End file.
